Three of the Best Exercises for Building Massive Shoulders

If you happen to be especially interested in bodybuilding and weight training, there’s a good chance that at some point in time, either in the past or in the future, you will have, or you will experience a plateau and will struggle with your training. We may experience times when we’re able to pile on muscle mass seemingly week by week, watching our physiques improve and our strength increase right before our eyes.

However, on other occasions it may seem as if no matter how hard we work, how disciplined we are in the kitchen and in the gym, we simply cannot make any real progress at all. If you’re training to increase muscle mass for example, the shoulders can be notoriously stubborn to train which is why so many people struggle to add mass to their deltoids.

A set of boulder shoulders can really help to increase the aesthetic appeal of a physique, which is why you need to ensure you have a solid shoulder routine in place to really help you maximize your shoulder gains. Here we’ll be taking a look at three of the best exercises for building massive shoulders so make sure you incorporate them into your shoulder routine.

Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises

Side lateral dumbbell raises are ideal for anybody looking to target the front and rear deltoids and are considered a fantastic exercise for really isolating the shoulders.

To perform this exercise:

1. Begin by selecting a set of relatively light dumbbells, grasping one with each hand, standing upright, and holding the dumbbells down at your side at arm’s length with your palms facing you.
2. Keeping your body perfectly still, bring the dumbbells up and out to your side, bending slightly at the elbow and tilting your hands forwards, as if you were pouring liquid from a jug. Raise your arms up until they are parallel and once at the top of the movement, hold for a second or two. Your palms should now be slightly higher than your shoulders.
3. Slowly lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position and repeat for as many reps as necessary, making sure not to swing them at all!

Standing Barbell Military Press

For adding solid mass to the deltoids, particularly the front and side delts, this exercise is ideal.

To perform it:

1. Select a barbell and add a weight that you can comfortably press above your head.
2. Set the barbell at chest height on a squat rack, grasp it with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width, bend your knees slightly, and then position the barbell upon your collar bone.
3. Lift it from the rack, keeping it in position on your upper chest, place your feet just wider than shoulder width apart, keep your head up, then, using your shoulders to generate the power, press the barbell above your head by fully locking your arms.
4. Lower the barbell back to your collar bone and repeat for as many reps as required.

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

This is arguably the most popular shoulder exercise in the gym, and it is ideal for working the front side and rear deltoids (to an extent), as well as the triceps too.

To perform this exercise:

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, sit down on a utility bench with a back support, and then place both dumbbells positioned upright on your thighs.
2. Bring the dumbbells up to shoulder height, preferably one at a time.
3. Rotate your wrists so that your palms are now facing forwards ahead of you and then push the dumbbells up into the air above your head, fully locking out your arms as you do so.
4. Slowly lower the weights down so that your elbows are at least forming a 90 degree angle and then repeat for as many reps as required.